WELCOME

Vitality in the Valley: Farm to Factory is an annual Manufacturing Expo where NYS companies in the food, beverage, and agriculture ecosystem, along with traditional manufacturers, connect with each other and with resources that can help them grow.

Richard A. Ball, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, is our keynote speaker this year. We are also looking for companies that have something to crow about. If you have what it takes, register as an exhibitor.

During Vitality in the Valley, you will:

  • Meet potential buyers and suppliers
  • Hear from industry experts
  • Learn about new technologies
  • Talk to business & technical resources
  • Discover funding opportunities
  • Find potential distribution channels

June 3-4, 2025

 

Location:
Herkimer College
100 Lou Ambers Drive
Herkimer, NY 13350

Lodging Options
The Red Roof Inn

100 Marginal Road,
Herkimer, NY 13350
(315)866-0490

Hampton Inn Utica

172 – 180 N Genesee Street,
Utica, NY 13502
(315)733-1200

AGENDA

June 3, 2025 - Day One

  • 3:00 PM
    Exhibitor Setup Begins
  • 5:30 PM
    Networking Reception

June 4, 2025 - Day Two

  • 7:30 AM
    Doors Open
  • 8:00 AM
    Registration & Breakfast
  • 8:30 AM
    Event Begins

    Welcome Addresses & Sponsors

    • Dr. Everton H. Henriques – FuzeHub (MC)
    • Cory Albrecht – AIM
    • Bill McDonald – Herkimer College
    • John Piseck – Herkimer IDA
    • Dr. Scott Ferguson – SUNY Cobleskill
  • 9:00 AM
    Morning Keynote

    Richard A. Ball,
    Commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets

  • 9:30 AM
    Exhibitor Showcase
  • 11:00 AM
    Panel Breakout
    • Catharine Young – NYS Center of Excellence for Food & Agriculture at Cornell AgriTech
    • Keri Pratico – Pursuit
    • Ethan Poole – Vance Metal Fabricators
    • Tim Fitzgerald – Mohawk Valley EDGE
    • Michael Parker – Farm Generations Cooperative
    • Joe Reardon – Performance Foodservice
  • 12:00 PM
    Lunch
  • 12:45 PM
    Lunch Speaker

    Grace Conners, Deputy District Director for the Syracuse District Office, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

  • 1:15 PM
    Exhibitor Showcase
  • 3:00 PM
    Event Ends

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

A native New Yorker, Mr. Ball has made a living in agriculture his entire life. His inspiration to become a farmer came from his grandparents, who were lifelong dairy farmers. At 18 years old, Mr. Ball began his own career in agriculture as a farm worker on a vegetable farm. Read More >
Richard A. Ball
Commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets

On January 9, 2014, Richard A. Ball was nominated as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. 

A native New Yorker, Mr. Ball has made a living in agriculture his entire life. His inspiration to become a farmer came from his grandparents, who were lifelong dairy farmers. At 18 years old, Mr. Ball began his own career in agriculture as a farm worker on a vegetable farm. He later became operations manager of that same farm. After 20 years there, in 1993 the opportunity arose to be a farm owner and for the past 30 years, he has been the owner and operator of Schoharie Valley Farms in Schoharie, NY, which consists of 200 acres and produces a wide range of vegetable crops, small fruits and greenhouse crops. The farm serves both retail and wholesale consumers through an onsite farm market and ships to brokers and restaurants in the local area as well as New York City. Read the full bio here.

LUNCH SPEAKER

Grace Conners is the Deputy District Director for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Syracuse District Office. The SBA Syracuse District Office covers 34 counties in Upstate NY with the mission to help entrepreneurs start, grow or expand their business. Read More >
Grace Conners
Deputy District Director for the Syracuse District Office U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

Grace Conners is the Deputy District Director for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Syracuse District Office. The SBA Syracuse District Office covers 34 counties in Upstate NY with the mission to help entrepreneurs start, grow or expand their business. Prior to her role as the Deputy District Director Grace served as one of the District’s Lender Relations Specialists for nearly 10 years. In her current role she continues to assist lenders with training and education in order to encourage lenders across the District Office’s footprint to utilize SBA’s loan programs.  In addition to her experience with SBA Grace also has over 9 years of commercial banking and commercial credit experience.

SPEAKERS & PANELISTS

Everton's focus is helping the manufacturing community, general industry, start-ups, local colleges, and universities to advance innovation and technology. Read More >
Dr. Everton H. Henriques, MA, HON
Director of Manufacturing and Technology Initiatives, FuzeHub
Steve Melito is the Senior Solutions Specialist for FuzeHub and the host of its NYS Manufacturing Now podcast. He also moderates events for FuzeHub and is a regular contributor to its print and digital publications. More...
Steve Melito
Senior Solutions Specialist, FuzeHub
Bill has served Herkimer College as associate dean of academic affairs for the Business, Health, Science and Technology division since 2017. Bill is responsible for the management of the division, including supervision and evaluation of full and part time faculty. More...
Bill McDonald
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Herkimer Community College
Since 2007 Cory Albrecht has been assisting manufacturers in the Mohawk Valley Region through the New York State Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NY MEP) Program as the Director of MVCC’s Advanced Institute for Manufacturing (AIM). More...
Cory Albrecht
Director - AIM at MVCC
After serving on the Board of Directors for a number of years, and serving as Chairman for two, John was appointed to the position of Executive Director of the Herkimer County Industrial Development Agency. More...
John Piseck
Executive Director Herkimer County IDA
Dr. Ferguson has experience teaching a variety of Business and Management courses. He is a multi-faceted professional, entrepreneur, consultant, and executive who has over twenty years of leadership experience managing up to 25 direct reports and $10M+ in budgets. More...
Dr. Scott Ferguson
Chief Economic Development Officer, Executive Director, The Institute for Rural Vitality at SUNY Cobleskill
Former state Senator and a longtime champion of food and agriculture enterprises and economic development, is the Executive Director of the New York State Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture at Cornell AgriTech. Read More...
Catharine Young
Director, New York State Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture at Cornell AgriTech
Brings over 17 years of expertise in championing small businesses. Keri's passion aligns perfectly with Pursuit's mission to empower businesses in all communities by providing access to capital and resources.More...
Keri Pratico
Assistant Vice President and Senior Business Development Officer at Pursuit
Born and raised in Geneva, NY, I grew up on a family farm just south of Geneva. I have always been intrigued by the vast opportunities in the world of agriculture and value the hard work of farmers. More...
Ethan Poole
Tanks Sales Manager at Vance Metal Fabricators
Tim Fitzgerald is Senior Vice President of Economic Development at Mohawk Valley EDGE, where he has been employed for 12 years. More...
Tim Fitzgerald
Senior Vice President, Economic Development, Mohawk Valley EDGE
Michael Parker is a farmer and entrepreneur. Mike started Sleeping Lion Farm, where he raises beef cattle and sells grass-fed beef and value-added products to his local community. Read More >
Michael Parker
Co-founder and COO of Farm Generations Cooperative
45 years of foodservice experience with the last thirty focused on distribution. 21 years with Performance Foodservice including 12 years of Senior Leadership in an $850 Million Dollar Operating Company in various roles including 8 years as Vice President of Marketing and Procurement. Read More >
Joe Reardon
Corporate Senior Director of Higher Education and Healthcare at Performance Foodservice
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EXHIBITOR GUIDE

Displaying 1 - 20 of 41

Advanced Institute for Manufacturing

Please upload a company logo for usage in the Exhibitor/Resource Guide

The Advanced Institute for Manufacturing, or AIM, helps small and medium sized manufacturers throughout the Mohawk Valley. By providing them with the training, consulting, and technology services they need that will lead to new product development, cost reductions, increased efficiency, and profits.

Alfred University CACT

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Alfred University and the New York State College of Ceramics is a global leader in the development of technical ceramic and glass materials and manufacturing solutions. Alfred’s Center for Advanced Ceramic Technology (CACT) provides industry with access to the resources and expertise needed to solve complex technical challenges including high temperature characterization, materials modeling, ceramic and glass additive manufacturing, and materials processing. CACT can provide cost share to New York State companies as a NYSTAR Center for Advanced Technology. CACT supports analytical testing, research & development projects, and workforce development from short courses to sponsored internships.

B-Blossom Catering

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B-Blossom is a plant-based food company bon from a passion for healthy cuisine. We believe in mastering every aspect of the culinary process
creating delicious, seasonal, and healthy cuisine
Believing that food can be one's medicine, B-Blossom takes extra care in securing the freshest and most locally ingredients available, supporting
regional farmers and diverse food producers.

Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR)

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The Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) mission is to perform cutting-edge materials research. The center also provides support to industry through the Industrial Partnerships Program. The program promotes technology transfer and economic development by offering to industry, timely and flexible access to world-leading materials experts (Cornell faculty members) and to state-of-the-art instruments, enabling product development as well as expansion to wider markets.

Creekside Industries- A Division Of The Arc Otsego

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Creekside Industries is a manufacturing business located in Oneonta, NY. We provide high quality services to our customers based on their unique needs – including packaging, assembly, warehousing, and eCommerce fulfillment – Creekside’s dedicated team gets the job done right. Our goal is to partner with our customers to create solutions for their business needs to help them save money, improve efficiency, expand their markets, and successfully grow their businesses.
Creekside Industries, a division of the Arc Otsego operates as a non-profit social enterprise. We strongly align ourselves with the Arc Otsego’s mission by providing a work location that supports the individual needs of people with developmental disabilities.

EM Metal Works

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EM Metal Works is a one-stop contract manufacturing partner specializing in precision sheet metal fabrication, welding, laser cutting, and assembly. Serving industries from energy to defense, we offer fast turnaround times, top-tier quality, and custom solutions built to spec. Our capabilities include AWS-certified welding (steel & aluminum), advanced fiber laser cutting, CNC forming, bending, grinding and more. EM Metal Works simplifies your supply chain with reliable service, skilled craftsmanship, on-time delivery and end-to-end support.

Empire State Development

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Empire State Development (ESD) is the chief agency responsible for the coordination of New York State’s economic development programs. ESD promotes a vigorous, inclusive and growing state economy through loans, grants, tax credits, and other forms of assistance.

Faction Networks

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Faction Networks breakthrough platform, applications and solutions enable individuals and organizations of any size to achieve true Zero Trust security for their networking, data and connected devices with a simple, low-cost solution that is easy to deploy, manage and use. Faction Pods and Portals are a unique and comprehensive solution for securing the myriad of IoT (Internet of Things) devices and Operational Technology (OT) networks which have been connected to the Internet over the last decades in manufacturing, healthcare, smart infrastructure and cities, etc. Most importantly of all, Faction Networks are so easy to deploy and use that anyone can do it. That's why we call it Zero Trust for the Rest of Us.

Farmstead 1868

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Rooted in history, powered by nature—Farmstead 1868 blends tradition with innovation to create high-quality lavender and farm-based products. Dating back to 1868, our family farm evolved from hops & dairy to include lavender, offering premium small-batch skincare, wellness, and culinary products. From handcrafted soaps & soothing body oils to culinary lavender & artisanal jams, we bring the calming benefits of lavender from our fields to your home. We also offer an Ag & Markets approved 20C kitchen space, supporting small-batch food production for artisans & entrepreneurs. Experience lavender's power for stress relief, explore wholesale opportunities, & discover how our farm-to-product approach is redefining farm-to-factory wellness.

FuzeHub

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FuzeHub provides New York State manufacturers and technology companies with guided access to our extensive network of industry experts, programs and assets to solve productivity, commercialization, research and development issues, and other challenges to growth.

FuzeHub’s programs champion the New York State manufacturing and technology community and provide targeted resources to accelerate manufacturing competitiveness and technology commercialization.

FX Matt Brewery

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F.X. Matt Brewing Company is a family-owned brewery in Utica, New York. It is the fourth oldest family-owned brewery in the United States, having brewed beer since 1888. Its most popular product is the Saranac line of beers. It also sells soft drinks such as root beer and ginger beer.

Garlic Delite Farms LLC

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Garlic Delite Farm is located in Little Falls NY and was established in 1985. We are certified naturally grown and have a licensed 20c processing facility on the farm. We have our products tested through Cornell for shelf life and stability. We currently have 16 different varieties of fresh garlic and 24 processed products.

Giotto Enterprises

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Giotto Enterprises is a group of seven companies united by common ownership, which provides consistent manufacturing leadership, quality and value for the fiber-optic industry. The “flagship” company of Giotto Enterprises is Fiber Instrument Sales, Inc., established in 1985 and located in Oriskany, NY.

The synergistic value of Giotto’s affiliate companies’ expertise and unmistakable dedication to quality has earned the organization the reputation of being “a key telecommunications solution provider” across the globe. Altogether, the seven affiliate companies of Giotto Enterprises proudly employ more than 400 workers right here in the Mohawk Valley.

Goldholly

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Goldholly is an NY-based brand to popularize North America's only native caffeinated plant, yaupon holly. Yaupon is a lightly caffeinated plant native to the American South. It's organic, regenerative, full of compounds like caffeine and theobromine for a smooth energy boost, and grown right here in the Southeast by family-run farms rather than imported from thousands of miles away like tea and coffee. Starting with dried teabag products and eventually expanding into new form factors such as ready-to-drink and vitamins/minerals/supplements, Goldholly plans to turn this small-but-mighty American crop into the next big caffeine category!

Higgins Supply Co. / C & H Plastics

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Higgins Supply / C & H Plastics LLC

We specialize in metal stamping and fabricating, plastic injection molding. and powder coating. When it comes to one stop shopping, we can meet your needs with over 150 years of experience in two Upstate New York locations. Our capabilities include but are not limited to metal finishing, machining, plastic extrusions, mold design, X-Rite spectrophotometer color matching, hot stamping, sonic welding, painting, and assemble & pack. We also maximize production by running 24 hours per day, five to six days per week.

Institute for Rural Vitality

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The Institute of Rural Vitality (IRV) offers business development assistance to entrepreneurs, small businesses, and farmers. The IRV also offers trainings and workshops to empower rural communities and foster economic growth with commitment to creating a vibrant, sustainable economy in Rural New York.

Kwik-Kut Manufacturing Company

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Kwik-Kut Manufacturing has been in business since the 1940s first located in Ilion NY and since 1955 in Mohawk, NY. We manufacture food choppers and related kitchen gadgets entirely in Mohawk. The main materials are stainless steel and aluminum. The company has been owned by the Fitzer family since 1968. Major customers are grocery store distributors, knife companies, restaurant suppliers, hardware stores, Amish businesses and private users.

MACNY, The Manufacturers Association

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MACNY is the voice and business solution leader for manufacturers in Central and Upstate New York. Through our collective expertise and leadership, we are able to speak uniformly and with authority on the issues impacting manufacturers.

MACNY is the primary resource for business solutions that enable members to operate more effectively and profitably. MACNY services include advocacy/government relations, workforce development, training and leadership development, networking events, HR consulting, and energy purchasing programs.

MACNY, The Manufacturers Association serves over 300 businesses and organizations across New York including industrial manufacturing companies and non-industrial service providers that support the manufacturing

Mohawk Valley EDGE

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EDGE is a multi-faceted economic development organization that serves businesses throughout Oneida and Herkimer counties since 1999. Our staff assists existing firms and attracts new businesses to the Mohawk Valley. EDGE's mission is simply to “Strengthen and Grow the Mohawk Valley Economy”. Our website, www.mvedge.org, provides greater detail to illustrate our accomplishments, expertise and toolbox of economic development incentives.

Neff Automation

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NEFF Automation is a fourth generation, family-owned industrial automation solution provider. NEFF provides technical solutions for our customers’ needs by upholding our value promises, while maintaining business and social integrity. Founded in 1926, NEFF now serves 15 states across the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, supported by 6 Value-Add Centers and a team of 250 employees.

SPONSORS

PARTNERS

Exhibitor Inquiry
Attendee Request Form: 2023 Hardware Prototyping Workshop
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